Town Hall: Leveraging Macroeconomic & External Data For Better Forecasting
Katie Allen
Lead Operational Data Scientist
Essilor of America
Katie leads the Operational Data Science function at Essilor, where she oversees forecasting and capacity management for Essilor's 85 production facilities. Prior to this, she worked as a Technology Business Analyst for State Farm. Katie hold a degree in Mathematics from the University of Alabama and a master's in Analytics from Villanova University.
Rich Wagner
Founder, President & Chief Product Officer
Prevedere
Rich helps companies to look beyond their own walls for key external drivers of financial performance. Utilizing millions of global metrics from data powerhouses like Nielsen, NASDAQ and the Federal Reserve, Rich has uniquely positioned Prevedere as a complementary solution to existing forecasting platforms by correlating external economic factors to corporate performance. Under Rich’s leadership, Prevedere has been named a “Cool Vendor in Information Innovation” by Gartner and an FP&A Innovation Awards winner in Forecasting and Planning.
Joe Cervino
Regional Manager, Sales and Operations Planning
Bayer Consumer Health
Joe Cervino has over 30 years of experience in the Supply Chain Management field and is currently the North American Regional Manager for S&OP at Bayer Consumer Health. He has designed and implemented Executive S&OP and IBP processes for a number of companies in the CPG, Biotech, Pharmaceuticals and Aerospace/Defence industries. His areas of expertise are S&OP ownership, demand planning, strategic management, CMO/3PL management, and production and capacity planning to name just a few.
Kendell Churchwell, ACPF
Senior Marketing Data Analyst
Southern Farm Bureau Life Insurance Company
Kendell Churchwell is a senior analyst with
Southern Farm Bureau Life Insurance where she is responsible for the
implementation of marketing predictive analytics projects. Her career started
at IBM as an IT specialist before moving on to business analysis and analytics
roles at C Spire where she spent 10 years. She is a Certified Analytics
Professional (CAP®, INFORMS), a certified IBM SPSS Modeler Professional, and
Project Management Professional (PMP). Kendell has BS in Mathematics and
Computer Science and an MBA from Mississippi State University.
Eric Wilson, ACPF
Director – Thought Leadership
Institute of Business Forecasting & Planning
Prior Roles
- Escalade Sports: Director of Demand Planning
- Berry Plastics: Director of Demand Planning
- Tempura Sealy International: Director of Demand Planning & S&OP
Industry Involvement
- Frequent speaker and panelist for many executive forums and professional conferences
- Written numerous articles in publications including The Journal of Business Forecasting and APICS Magazine
- Author of the books Cultural Cycles and Predictive Analytics for Business Forecasting & Planning
Award
- IBF Excellence in Business Forecasting & Planning
Certification
- IBF Advanced Certified Professional Forecaster (ACPF)
How does the wider economy impact your demand? What about competitor activity and weather? In this value-added town hall, we dive into the role of macroeconomic and other external variables in forecasting, and how to include these demand drivers into your process. Leading experts will reveal their best practices with takeaways for your own planning process.
We will discuss:
- Incorporating external drivers into your forecasts and plans
- Identifying which economic and industry drivers impact your business
- Looking beyond sales and times series data to find new insights
- How machine learning, intelligent forecasting and other technologies are changing demand forecasting
- Which industries are benefiting most from predictive analytics
- How to use predictive analytics to improve forecasting and become more agile
- Whether you need to be a data scientist to leverage predictive analytics, and if it is a good use of a planner’s time